Karma
by rabid.riddles
Summary: Reid came back to Gotham after getting her graduate degree in Metropolis. Her goal had always been to join the GCPD, like her uncle, to help people the way he had helped her. In her time there, as the forensic psychologist, Reid sees bad things go down in Gotham with a front row seat. From her back office she slowly watches herself spiral downwards. [starts pre-season 1] Nygma/OC
1. Chapter 1

After spending years in a bright and sunny city, the return to the dark and downtrodden was a strange feeling. It had taken her quite some time to get adjusted to the consistently peppy attitude that nature was practically shoving down her throat, but once she had it was the norm. Now, here she was, back home headed for her first day at work with her briefcase in hand, trying to convince herself that it was not evening. Reid had been hoping that readjusting to Gotham would be quick, but it seemed that the four days she gave herself weren't enough. Not that she could do anything about it now. Stifling a yawn as she made her way into the building, Reid kept replaying what her uncle had told her when she moved out to Metropolis: "Stay there, and keep out this pit that is Gotham."

Reid did an amazing job of listening to her _dear _uncle's advice. He had always known that her plan was to come back and join the GCPD. She wanted to help people, and the people of Metropolis didn't need the same kind of help that the people of Gotham did. The kinds of people in Gotham were those who wanted to do good, those who were wrapped up in crimes, and those who were just trying to get by. Those just trying to just get by were out numbered by the ones who wanted to take advantage, and those who wanted to do good were...few and far between.

To say that the police station was busy was an understatement. Uniformed officers were running around shouting and yelling, detectives were yelling at each other, people in the holding cells were either yelling at everyone or just plain yelling. There were a few officers struggling with hand cuffed suspects, and even a few beating one.

Maybe her uncle had been right when he called this place a pit. Reid was standing in the middle of the police station watching three officers beat a man. A handcuffed man. Her left hand tightened on the handle of her briefcase, and, not hiding the disgust from her face, Reid made to go over to the officers who were clearly out of line, when a hand took a firm hold of her shoulder. Pulling herself out of their grasp, Reid jumped as she turned to face the offending person. She came face to face with a man just slightly taller than herself. He was wearing a uniform, and had a bright smile on his face as he looked down at her.

If she were honest, Reid would say that it felt more like the man was looking down _on _her, as opposed to looking down to see her. From his cocky demeanor, supposedly suave hair, and smile that was intended as inviting but appeared far more disconcerting, she knew that there was some deep seeded misogyny waiting to make itself known. And, lucky or unlucky, she didn't have to wait all that long to find it as he spoke to her.

"Now, what is a lady like you doing in a place like this? With a pretty face like that, you might find yourself getting hurt. Wouldn't want that, now would we?"

"Well, given that your tone is far more predatory than helpful, maybe you're right and I should be somewhere else. Like the captain's office. Mind pointing me in that direction Officer..," Reid trailed off as she directed her line of sight to the officers name badge, "T. Dougherty?"

The police officer let out a smug little laugh, while taking a step towards her, "I'll do you one better, miss."

Reid felt her back go ridged as the man wrapped an unwelcome arm around her waist and began chauffeuring her towards what she could only assume was the captain's office. Her arms moved from their home at her sides, joining together at her front. A small subconscious act in protection, she reminded herself. Now, she was not a woman who was put off by physical contact; on the contrary, Reid quite enjoyed physical contact. Hand holding, hugs, small affectionate grazes. But this man was not someone who gave off good vibes, and her uncle had made sure she learned to trust her gut.

He taught her that a lot of women ignored their gut to try and make men comfortable, and that was not the way a woman could be. Especially in a place like Gotham. And if her gut told her anything it was that she did not want this man touching her.

With that thought going through her mind though, she knew that she couldn't jump to a reaction. She was out numbered, in unfamiliar territory, with no obvious allies. Reid was big talk, but she knew when her bet was better kept close to home, and she could fairly easily find herself freezing as opposed to reacting. So, with a painfully fake smile on her face and her briefcase knocking against her knees, she walked along with Officer T. Dougherty to wherever he was shuffling her off to. The only thing that calmed her was that she was walking in the middle of a police station, so the odds of anything too bad happening were slim.

Than again, a man was being beaten in that very same police station.

After what felt like hours passed, but was actually only moments, the officer spoke again, "So what's your name anyway? You know mine, it's only fair if I get yours, too."

Another stiff smile made it's way to her face. She was going to have to work here, it wasn't like he wouldn't get her name eventually, "Uh, Reid. I'm Reid."

"Oh, I get it. You only know my last name, so that's all I get from you, is that it?"

The smile on her face turned a little less forced at that response from her escort. Reid was very used to being poked fun at due to her name, not only was it an uncommon name for a first name but even less so for a woman to have it as a first name. The thing was, Reid wasn't _actually _her first name, it was her middle name, but there was no way in hell she was going by her actual first name. Her father had wanted her to have a soft and feminine name. A name that would would be a _woman's name_.

It was a horrible. Just like her father. And while this may be her new place of employment, she was not about to tell Officer Hands-y her real first name. She didn't go by that name, and she hadn't since she was thirteen. "Reid actually, is my name. It's not my last name."

The next question was going to be about her last name, and she had yet to even work part of a day on the job. Though as the two were moving up the stairs, she caught sight of a woman, storming out of an office with a vengeance. Reid couldn't help but think to herself, _Oh thank god. An out._

"Captain Essen!"

The women in charge quickly turned to face her newest employee and a look of relief made its way onto her face. As the captain started to walk over to the two, Reid felt Dougherty's arm release her from his grasp. "Thank god, you're even a little early."

"You were expecting me to be _exactly _like my uncle, weren't you, Captain?" No longer being restrained physically, Reid felt better about engaging in a more normal fashion. Though her arms were still in front of her, not entirely comfortable. "The man might have had a substantial hand in raising me, but that doesn't mean that I _am _him."

"To be honest, yes. I was expecting you to be closer to the Bullock Way, than you seem to be."

Suddenly the all but forgotten officer spoke up again, "Wait a minute. Bullock? I thought you said your name was Reid."

"Officer," Essen spoke up quickly and forcefully, drawing the conversation to a quick end, "Don't you have something else to be doing right now?"

Reid watched the exchange between the superior and subordinate attentively. It was an interesting experience to watch them have an unspoken battle of wills, changing the originally protective act of placing her arms before her as cover to a stable base of her observation.

Sarah Essen was a women who had been around people who felt that they had a place above her for the majority of her life, and it showed. Her eyes didn't show an ounce of baking down, her stance was sure of itself, and the small tilt of her head was all but daring the man who stood before her to question her. To the Captain, Dougherty may as well have been any other faceless officer below her. A point she made painfully clear by only addressing him by his position and not his name.

On Dougherty's side there was less controlled frustration, and more poorly veiled irritation. While Essen was a person who became strong, T. Dougherty was a person who wanted to be seen as strong. He was like a cat lifting its fur to appear bigger; only, while his hair was stationary, the not so subtly annoyed smirk was not. Pulling back his shoulders, Dougherty gave a single stiff nod.

For all of a moment, Reid was surprised that the pompous officer was going to back down as quickly as it appeared he was. But, good things never lasted long, especially in Gotham. As he turned around to go back to whatever it was he was supposed to be doing, Dougherty leered at Reid again before throwing out that he'd _see her again_. While Reid resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the man and plastered on a fake smile, Captain Essen did nothing of the sort.

Essen shook her head slightly, once the two women were finally free of the abrasive man, as though to remove it from her recent memory. An act which Reid couldn't blame her for. With the Captain moving forward into getting Reid ready for her new position at the GCPD, Reid was quick to follow along, her arms once again swinging by her side. It was day one, and she was eager.

"Come with me, Ms. Bullock. I'll show you to the office you'll be working in, and on the way I'll introduce you to our medical examiner and our forensic scientist. Just a forewarning, they can both be a little...annoying. Especially when they're together."

Reid's new boss threw in this tidbit of information in a very casual way, which only made Reid all the more suspicious of it. The statement was a little foreboding, as the casual nature was extremely forced. Not wanting to seem off put by the knowledge, Reid decided to proceed cautiously. "Annoying, how, exactly?"

"Well," Essen started, coming to an abrupt stop almost causing Reid to fall into her. The captain's face showed how unsure she was on how to handle the situation, and her eyes joined in the response as she let out a tired breath. "Well, do you want the 'you're new here' answer, or the honest answer?"

Showing her intrigue, as well as confusion, Reid answered slowly, "Lets go with _both_."

"Both, right. Okay than."

Her boss shook her head, squared her shoulders, and looked Reid dead in the eye. The small smile on her face was one of the most convincing ones that Reid had seen, and stayed on the older woman's face while she got through the first half of her introduction, "Dr. Guerra and Mr. Nygma are both good at their jobs, but sometimes have disagreements on how things should be handled. As a result, there can be some tension in the space."

If _that_ was the 'you're new here' response, which she was definitely thinking it was, she was a little nervous to hear the honest answer. Reid knew that her office was going to be in the same part of the building as those two, and she was really hoping that she wasn't going to be subject to screaming matches, and a pathetic turf war. She was going to be working closely with both of them, and she didn't want to get pulled into some ongoing dispute.

"That's the nice answer. What's the real answer?"

"The honest answer isn't all that different, except that I would keep you away from Nygma as long as possible."

"He's the instigator?" Reid needed good clarification on this.

"Not really. Ed is a good guy, who's great at his job," Essen began her explanation as a ruckus was now heard not that far away from them. Letting out another sigh, the woman continued, "Unfortunately, he also thinks he's allowed to do everyone else's job, too."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that he can-"

What was a ruckus came to a head with a loud bang, and a door behind the captain swinging open. A darker skinned man in a lab coat stepped out of the door in a fury, looking around for _something._ That something was found as his eyes landed on Reid and her tour guide. The man's entire body turned at once, and his anger quickly started to boil over as he stormed over towards the two women. Essen didn't even bother to turn around as the man approached them; this was obviously a conversation that she had had on many an occasion.

Just as the seething man got close to them, another rushed out of the open door and looked towards them. This man looked incredibly embarrassed by the situation at hand, and reached up to adjust his glasses. A nervous habit, it would seem, to keep his hands occupied. He was still wearing a plastic apron, though no gloves. If Reid had to guess, he had taken those off, as well as a head piece, before leaving the room, which Reid also assumed was the medical examine room. Based on the information at hand, the angry man was Dr. Guerra, and the shaken man now making his way towards them was Mr. Nygma. Not the dynamic she had been expecting.

The ME stood to the side on Captain Essen and looked down to her, his frustration evident, "Captain Essen-"

Not even turning her head to look at him, Essen cut the doctor off, "Doctor Guerra, how nice of you to join us. This is Ms. Bullock. She's going to be working here. Today is her first day and I'm showing her to her office."

"That's great. You need to deal with Nygma."

Harsh and boorish, a delightful combination. For the second time Reid decided to take a backseat and observe, her hands lightly clasping her small briefcase in front of her once again. It would serve well to know exactly how the power structure worked here. The captain turned to face the agitated man with an entirely bored expression and asked why she would need to do that as the man accused took a place to the opposite side of the parental figure, his hands clenching and unclenching intermittently.

His demeanor was almost the exact opposite of his counterpart. He stood rigid with false calm, his eyes were moving quickly between the angry doctor and the annoyed captain. His anxiety radiated off of him, and could surely be felt by anyone who paid any attention to him and his behavior. Definitely not the dynamic Reid was expecting.

Nygma was the one that Essen wanted to keep away from people as long as possible, but Reid couldn't figure out why. He seemed genuine, overall. As the Captain and the ME discussed why Guerra was so upset (Nygma examining a body), he stood waiting for an opportunity to explain himself. The cue for him to jump in was apparently when Dr. Guerra claimed he was good at his job.

"But if you were good at your job, you wouldn't have ruled the Marks case a suicide, as it was clearly a murder," the nervous man spoke in a remarkably confident way given his current state.

Reid was a person to take the first impression that she gets from a person, and roll with it. So far, in her time in the GCPD building, Reid liked two people, and was apprehensive about two. Dougherty was full of entitlement, with no effort to actually earn anything. Essen oozed a desire to do good, but having too little help getting there. Guerra was insecure in his ability, and lashed out when questioned. Nygma wanted to see things done in the best way possible, even if that meant getting in trouble for it.

"What was the cause of death?" The three people in front of her, faced her in shock as she spoke. One of Reid's favorite things about casual observation was people forgetting that she was there.

Quickly removing himself from shock and slipping back into indignation, Guerra spoke first, "Suicide."

"No, the cause of death," Reid insisted, "I want to know how Marks died, not why."

Nerves taking a back seat, the forensic scientist spoke up, and a completely different person was seeping out. His brown eyes brightened, and his features became animated in his excitement, "Christopher Marks was hit by a car when he fell from a building into an ally. But there's no way that he just fell out off the roof-"

"I _told you_," Guerra interrupted, causing Nygma's sad puppy dog look to return, "He didn't _fall, he jumped. _If you would listen-"

Foregoing the high road Reid cut the doctor off, holding her hand up to him, "Let him finish," she said briskly before gesturing for Nygma to continue his explanation, which he did eagerly.

"He couldn't have fallen _or_ jumped because he was unconscious when he died."

Puppy had been the right word to describe him, because he looked like Reid had just scratched him behind the ears and called him a good boy. He was about ready to bust of excitement, and Reid thought it was one of the funniest things she had seen in a good long time.

Not getting to dwell on that for too long, Essen spoke up, "What do you mean he was unconscious? How do you know that?"

"He's assuming!" Guerra seemed to have reached his limit of placating.

"I am _not_ assuming. I don't assume."

"Stop, both of you!" The captain as no longer dealing with the situation, she was ending the situation. This was not the way her new employee was meant to spend their day. "Ed, why do you say that Marks was unconscious?"

"Because of the extreme amount of propofol in his system. The fall didn't kill him, the propofol did. It was injected in the middle of his back, which no one reasonably would or could do. Someone injected him, and tossed him off the building to try and hide it."

"Reid?" Essen looked to her, searching for conformation on what the man accused said.

Reid didn't want to be involved in this, but it seemed she had already involved herself. She was going to be working with both of them, she was probably going to get pulled into situations like this one a lot. Better to rip the band-aide. "Without knowing what the blood work says, Mr. Nygma is very likely right in this. Now, I can't say that he was dead before he hit the ground, but propofol is highly effective and is used as an anesthetic during surgery. If someone were to looking to kill someone, it was be a good way to go. Easy to overdose on."

The rigidity of false calm went away on the taller man as Reid's words vindicated him. A large smile was on his face as he looked at her, clearly thankful that she not only agreed with him but supported his conclusions. Feeling endearment to the yet unknown man, Reid returned the smile.

Captain Essen spoke to the doctor quickly after that, "Go look again, Dr. Guerra."

"Why, because Nygma and some random woman say so?"

"No," Essen spoke again, "Because Edward is your colleague, as the forensic scientist, and Ms. Bullock is as well, as the forensic psychologist. And because this wouldn't be the first time you made a mistake, now would it?"

All the tension that had left came rushing back, and it was all directed at her. Guerra was mad that he got called out by the new girl, and Nygma was now confused that she worked with him. Now she was the one uncomfortable., and her arms were once again subconsciously protecting herself.

_Great first day so far, Reid. Great first day. _She smiled an awkward smile at the three people in front of her, waiting for someone to break the tension. Nowhere near soon enough Guerra spoke again, allowing the focus to shift back to him.

"Fine, I'll look again if that will make you feel better," he started in a condescending tone, "But you need to address the issue of Nygma deciding that he can play with dead bodies."

Not waiting for a response, the doctor stormed back off into the direction that he came, much to Reid's relief, leaving the three alone. Ed Nygma continued to gaze at Reid skeptically, as though deciding what to make of his new coworker, and Reid suddenly found herself uncomfortable. Maybe she had made a bad call with this man, and he was not a person she should like. But, being unsettled yet again, the man in question extended his hand to her, "Edward Nygma. Pleasure to meet you."

Grasping his offered hand in hers, she smiled up to him yet again, "Reid Bullock, and same to you, I'm sure."

While to two were shaking hands, the captain decided it was time for her to take her leave. The Captain began to make her way to anyplace that was away from the situation that was away from there, and threw over her shoulder, "Great, now that introductions have been made, I'm sure Ed can show you where your office is, and the two of you can get acquainted. That being said: Ed, stay away from Guerra. I can't protect you forever. And Reid, you're gonna do great here."

**Well that is chapter 1! Please leave a review to help keep me motivated. I am about mid-way through the next chapter, and want to know if anyone will actually be interested in this.**

**That being said, I have no claim to Gotham the show, nor any characters created in the Batman universe.**


	2. Chapter 2

Reid quickly learned three things about working at the GCPD. One: the men that she was surrounded by were horrid. She was quite sure that she could find a job at a bar, and receive more respect from her male coworkers. Two: Harvey Bullock was not shy about reminding her that he told her to stay in Metropolis, and that Gotham was where good people went to die. And three: for every person that was disrespectful to her, there was one that was disrespectful to Ed; and those people were usually interchangeable. It was a strange thing for her, because Reid couldn't see what the big deal was. So he liked riddles and being right. So what? They liked being right and being assholes. One of those things was not as bad as the other.

It did serve as a bit of a problem for her, however, because news had quickly spread through the precinct that she was Harvey Bullock's niece and that she was friends with Ed. If she wasn't getting shit for one, she was getting shit for the other. And, if by some miracle, she wasn't getting shit for those, someone was mistaking her for a secretary and asking her to get them coffee, or files, or just over all wasting her time. For six months she had worked at the Gotham City Police Department, and for six months she had been looked at as though she was just something pretty to look at.

She may be pretty...no, she _was_ pretty. Reid Bullock looked good and had everything to match. Including a degree in psychology, with a focus of forensic psychology. She was good at her job, and could go anywhere else and probably be treated better, but she would remind herself every time someone called her 'sweet cheeks', that this was where she wanted to be. This is where she wanted to make a difference. This is where her uncle fumbled in and made her life better, and she wanted to do the same for someone else. While the psychologist knew full well that this could very well be a fool's errand, something Harvey would also tell her, Reid was set to stick with it. Or so she would tell herself as she stood absentmindedly at her uncle's messy desk.

Harvey had specifically told her to meet him at his desk with her break down of his suspect, and as he was at present the only detective _actively_ using her for help she was always willing to provide it. She was being productive. Or, rather, was being productive when she wasn't waiting for her uncle to simply show up. While her _beloved _uncle took his good old time getting into work when he knew he had a meeting time set with her, Reid took the opportunity to zone out and plan out the rest of her day.

It was highly unlikely that anyone else would go to her, with the exception of the man who was currently her only friend. But, Ed wouldn't really be going to her for aide, he would be going to show her some ridiculous thing that he found inside a body. Which he shouldn't be messing with anyway, because he wasn't the medical examiner. Though sometimes Ed going to her for some interesting thing would lead to a psychological reason that people did what they did. Which was usually some deep seeded issue with themselves as a person, that they chose to work out on other people.

Reid had noticed that anytime that subject came up, the forensic scientist would clam up some. He was very anxious, and always seemed to be waiting for the other shoe to drop. Edward Nygma did not enjoy life, he spent his life preparing for the worst. Bracing for impact. All in all, not a good way to go about life.

Once a week the two would have dinner, and who ever finished work first cooked. Which usually meant that Reid was cooking. Or always meant that Reid was cooking. During dinner they would talk about a multitude of things, and she would always try and direct it to embracing who you are as a person. Forget the people that don't get it. She always said that she wanted to belong, she didn't want to fit in. But Ed desperately seemed to want to fit in. And that was normal. It was a normal response to want to be liked by people. But allowing yourself to belong, and finding the place you can be yourself unencumbered, that would be so much more gratifying. To not be taken with your flaws, but embraced for them.

Could Ed be a little annoying sometimes? Sure, but that was one of the things that Reid liked most about him. He got excited, like a damn puppy, and you could see it in the way that he walked around.

Could Ed be a little arrogant if he figured out something before you did? Absolutely, but Reid enjoyed the fact that he would acknowledge if he made someone he liked feel bad. Usually.

Did Ed tend to miss basic social ques, as a result of his probably undiagnosed high functioning autism? Yes, and listening to him go on and on about the silliest things and lighting up like a christmas tree, annoying whatever detective or officer he was giving the information to, was usually the highlight of her day.

For a moment, Reid took pause. She had just spent an unknown amount of time breaking down Ed. For no reason other than she was bored waiting for Harvey. Confusion passed over her face as she decided to go against her better judgment and analyze that. Reid had left Gotham years ago to peruse her education in the best way possible. She had met people like Ed before, and was usually annoyed with their lack of care, and their hyper-percipient and hypercritical nature. She had dated a few people, and was almost always put off when they wanted her to prioritize them over her work and studies.

She had _just_ started her day, and this was not the time for the realization that she had a thing for her friend. She was new at her job, and annoyed by just about _every man _she came into contact with as a result. This was _not _the time in her life where she needed to have feelings for someone. But, that was just how things went. And now she was going to have to make it through the day as though nothing had changed.

Realistically nothing had changed, as _realizing_ that you have a crush doesn't mean that it wasn't there to begin with. If Reid wanted to, she was quite certain that she could figure out where the feelings started and rationalize them. But the only thing that would to, would be to make the situation that much more real. Or...that was what she was going to tell herself. It was a horrible idea, that would end horribly, and would be an overall bad call, but that was going to be her story. Her very uneducated story.

Just as Reid was about to slip into a full fledged break down, she heard her uncle's gruff voice apologizing for being late. "I'd lie and tell you something like 'my car had a flat', but you wouldn't buy that anyway. I overslept, and forgot you were going to be meeting with me."

Harvey dropped himself into his desk chair like the sack of potatoes he almost was, and looked over to his empty eyed niece. Now, he might not have been the best parental figure, and Reid might have done a good bit of her raising on her own, but he knew when someone was freaking out. And his niece may have finally lost it. Reid was not the existential crisis kind of a girl, so Harvey wasn't quite sure how to handle her in the state she currently seemed to be in.

Rolling his chair closer to Reid, he lifted his hand in front of her face, waving it slightly. "Hey, kid, you listening to me?"

His niece shook her head slightly, and looked at him. Tension hung in the air while Reid looked down at Harvey confused, and he looked up to her expectant. In an instant she shook her head and seemingly brought herself back to the present.

"Sorry, lost in thought. Here are my notes," she handed her uncle the slim file she had in her hand, "On the suspect you have. He is greatly over reaching in trying to say that he has an insanity defense. Long story short, he had deep rooted biases, specifically towards women and people of color. He isn't acting out of an inability to control himself; he's attacking and killing people because he thinks that he's distinctively and inherently above them. There is zero basis for any psychosis. Just pretension."

"Just what?"

She rolled her eyes, "He's pretentious."

"What a sweetheart," Harvey took a few moments to flip through the notes Reid had given to him. They were detailed, as usual, and her ability to remain objective and honest when she had to deal with people looking her in the eyes and telling her that what they did to the people in the files should be done to her, was boggling to him. Everything was bound to catch up to her at some point, Harvey just hadn't thought it would get to her in such a short time.

"Hey, you doin' okay? You seem a little…._off."_

Reid quickly said that she was fine, as she was not about to explain to her uncle that while she had decided to plan out her day she had spent her time daydreaming about her friend. Her _only_ friend, at present, so thinking that she was a child and had a _crush_ on Ed was probably not going to end well. "Yeah, just preoccupied is all."

Harvey nodded slightly, looking at Reid skeptically, "You sure about that?"

"What, am I a suspect now?" She snapped at her uncle, in an uncharacteristic outburst. Reid was calm, cool, and collected. Reid approached situations with an analytical mind. Reid did not snap at people. Feeling a redness take to her cheeks, she mumbled a quiet apology and began making her way back to her office.

For the first time she managed to tune out anything that was said around her, as she made her way through the bullpen. Reid was focused on one thing, and that was getting herself to her office as quickly as possible. She didn't want to deal with any of the officers or detectives, only sit and silently process.

Reid had had relationships in the past, but they were almost always situational, mainly because women weren't quick to pursue her and men were. The few relationships she had had with women, two, were because both people cared about the other and actively wanted to be together. The "situation-ships" she had had with men, four, had always been because it seemed to work. But it was never about being with Reid that had them together. It was about what _they_ wanted. Reid's goals and accomplishments were always pushed to the side. A postscript note.

What did she need a degree for, if she was going to marry a nice man? Why did she have to move back to Gotham, when she could get a high rise apartment in the amazing city of Metropolis? Why was she so set on having a life outside of a _husband_? For starters, because she wasn't only attracted to men, so she might not marry a nice man. Secondly, because this was her dream. Lastly, see answer one and add that Reid was a whole person outside from whoever she was with.

As she barreled around a corner, she slammed right into a solid form, almost falling if not for two hands grabbing her at her elbows. Looking up and at the person who she ran into, Reid's face got all the more red. Today was just not her day.

"Hey, Ed, sorry. Lost in thought, wasn't paying attention."

Ed looked at her, and his expression of shock turned to concern, "Are you alright?"

Reid moved to step back, but wasn't able to with Ed's hands still around her elbows. This was not helping her any, since Ed still had general boundary issues and stood very close to her. Now all of a sudden her was causing her a little discomfort. More than a little. Had Ed always been so tall, and have such warm hands?

"Yeah, I'm good. Just...lost in thought."

"You already said that." He took a step closer before continuing, "Did something happen? You're flushed."

Opening her mouth to respond, she found that nothing came out. Where was her functioning brain when she needed it? Reid and Ed had been friends for a while, and she had been close to him before, but a few minutes ago she allowed herself too much time to think. Now all of a sudden she realized that she was attracted to him, and she was having a very hard time being near him and smelling his….lab smell. Good god she had lost her mind. Now Reid was just standing in front of him blankly, trying to decide if his eyes were more penny brown or pecan brown.

Reid needed to stop or else she was only going to cause problems in her life. She didn't need any problems when she already got to sit in her office and watch criminals destroy lives, often literally, she needed to be able to main consistency in her life. Reid knew a good bit, and one of the things she knew was that people could spiral out of control _fast_ in a place like Gotham without a system of support. Without the right _people_. Reid only actually had two people, and one of them, while supportive, was not exactly the right kind of person to use as a support system.

So Reid was going to do exactly what she had seen other people do all her life: swallow her feelings and pretend they don't exist. At least for now. Reid was a strong person, so she would give herself time to be her own support, and then she would do something about how she felt. Or maybe she wouldn't. Reid was not shy to say the cowardice is not a Bullock trait she completely missed out on.

"No, Ed, nothing happened. Everything's good. But, hey, dinner tonight?"

At than Ed brightened up and a smile took over his face. "Yes, tonight is great. How about tonight I'll leave early, and I'll make dinner. Since you usually do."

"Sure, sounds great."

One interaction down. Only a few thousand to go.

**And here we have chapter 2. Let me know what you think!**

**I have no claim to Gotham the show, nor any characters created in the Batman universe.**


	3. Chapter 3

She was lying to him. Ed didn't know why, because there was no basis for her to lie to him and she always said that she loathed lying, but she was. For some reason, Reid had gotten upset with him, and as a result she was lying to him. All he would have to do would be to find out what about, and why. It wouldn't be all that difficult for him, it was just another riddle for him to figure out. And that was one of the many things that he was good at.

His mind was set, he would do his work as quickly as possible so he could leave early. For the past six months, he and Reid had become friends, and what had started as her thanking him for being nice to her on her first week had become a constant in their relationship: weekly dinner. This would be the first week in twenty-six weeks that he would be making dinner. Specifically because Ed was going to use this time to find out who or what was causing her to lie to him.

First he would talk to Detective Bullock. Ed knew that Reid had been working with him on a recent sting of murders that was happening in the Narrows. Someone was going around kidnapping women and killing them. More specifically they weren't just killing the women, they were bleeding the women out. Based on the first few bodies that had come in, the murderer was attempting to remove the blood from the bodies using veins as opposed to arteries. The process would have to be very time consuming and tedious since veins carried minimal blood, and whoever it was doing it was either very patient or trying to scratch some intellectual itch. Or, as Reid would say, just bitter and entitled.

Making his way quickly to the detective in question while he thought over the more interesting facets of the case Reid was working on, Ed wondered if that was what the problem was. Usually the two of them would discuss details of the cases that made their way into the GCPD, but as of late there conversations had been less work centered. Precisely for the past week, which was the time that this case came in, and Detective Bullock went to Reid to aide in his efforts. Yes, if Ed was going to be able to figure out why exactly his friend had not only lied, but what about, he would have to start with the uncle of the woman in question. Ed watched as the bearded man jumped in surprise when his name was said.

The detective sighed and turned his chair to face the forensic scientist, "H. Christ, Nygma. Why the hell are you going around sneaking up on people? Don't you have anything better to do in that lab a'yours?"

"Apologies, startling you was not my intention, though I did come with a purpose."

With a longer drawn out sigh, and a roll of the head, Harvey spoke again, "Alright, Nygma. Out with it."

"My first is the fourth in the Sound of Music; the next is the third, from the same. My last is two letters found in many words and found in forms of affection."

Ed looked down at the detective expectantly, his excited energy was palpable. The same, he noticed, could not be said for the man sitting in the chair before him. While Ed was excited to see if Detective Bullock could figure out his riddle, which had the intention of getting said detective to realize that Ed had come to him about his niece.

However, said detective was looking up at Ed with a perplexed expression. "My first is what? Last what? _What_ are you on about?"

"It's a riddle. Family is the answer."

Shaking his head, Harvey let out another sigh, "Alright, if you got all that out of your system..."

Once again Edward was looking at the back of Detective Bullock, as he had turned around, effectively cutting Ed out of his mind. While that was just another instance on a stack of instances of people demonstrating that they did not really care for anything Ed had to say, he still was here for a reason. Other people may not care what he had to say, but Reid did. Reid, over their time working together, had quickly become a stabilizer in his life. She was calm and analytical. She was happy to engage with him and was far less interested in wasting her time with the morons that would patronize her. Reid was important, and he needed to figure out what was motivating her to _lie to him._

"Your family, niece to be exact."

At the mention of Reid, Harvey stopped whatever it was that he was doing and turned back around to face Edward, suddenly taking the situation more seriously. _Now_ Harvey Bullock was interested because something involved his niece. That bit of information was stored away for later use before he spoke again, "I ran into her, in the hall on the way to her office. She seemed...off, but when I asked her about it she lied. She said that she was 'lost in thought', but that's not something that happens to Reid, so something is wrong and I'm trying to figure it out.

"That being said, Reid mentioned that she was meeting with you this morning about the case you brought her in on. I would like to know if she seemed like something was bothering her before the two of you were done. Usually remarks made by officers don't cause her much dismay, since she says that it's something to be expected when men take jobs like theirs. They are uneducated, and take jobs that give them the ability to act with power they think they deserve for some reason. So was anything bothering her when she was with you?"

The older man took in the information that was laid out. Harvey had been worried about what was going on with Reid, and now Edward Nygma was stood in front of him trying to figure it as well. Clearing his throat, he grabbed the file with the notes from his niece and handed it to Ed. Anyone who had eyes could see that the two were good friends. For some reason, Reid had decided that Ed was his kind of person. "Yeah, something was bothering. And she sure as hell didn't tell me about it when I asked, either. Here's what she gave me. Best guess, something about this guy got to her a little. Not sure what all you know about when she was a kid, 'cause she doesn't talk about it…_ ever_, but it could have triggered somethin'. I got what I need, so take a look if you want."

Harvey turned back around to his desk once Ed had the file containing the notes and conclusions, allowing Ed to promptly turn around and make his way back to his office. The detective mentioned the childhood of his friend, which was another thing to occupy his time with. Whatever people in the building needed from him today would be done as efficiently as possible, and than he would look into Reid's childhood.

At the moment, Ed only knew tidbits about Reid's life before she came to the GCPD. She was born in Gotham and spent her teen years with her uncle. She went to Metropolis University to get her masters in psychology, after which Reid came back to work here. Ed knew that she did not pursue any kind of relationship with her parents, much like him and his father, but he wasn't sure why that was. Ed knew that she was uncomfortable with prolonged physical contact with people that she didn't trust. Ed knew that there was a report somewhere that could explain why it was that S. Reid Bullock stopped living with her parents and started living with her uncle.

That was where he would start: by trying to find that report. Detective Bullock heavily implied that whatever it was that was disconcerting to Reid could be found in her past. Smiling to himself about the plan that he was quickly forming, Ed decided that is work could wait. Regardless of when he got to it, he could complete it far quicker than anyone else would; but no one would be able to figure this out except for him. He would solve the riddle of why she lied to him, all while also ensuring that she wouldn't again. Reid would trust him again. Ed _needed_ her to trust him.

**Here is number three! Drop by and say hello if you want to!**

**I have no claim to Gotham the show, nor any characters created in the Batman universe.**


	4. Chapter 4

Edward spent his day going over any information that he could find about his friend's past, and he wasn't happy with what he had managed to find. Nothing he found was specific, but any moron would have been able to figure out what it all meant. Vague hospital records of accidents that happened in sporadic patterns. School records that were shoddy and spotty, _at best_, up until Reid was at the end of sixth grade. At that time she left school for about two years, and her custody was taken by her uncle, Harvey Bullock, undoubtedly a better position for her. Edward found that after missing two grades, Reid needed to be tested to evaluate if she would need to go through with the last two grades of middle school, or if she could move straight to her first year in high school with others her age. He certainly felt a twinge of pride that she was admitted to her freshman year. From that point on, Reid excelled in her academic career, staying at the top of her class. She never had another strange hospital or doctors visit. From that point on everything went well for her.

All of this told him one clear thing: one, or both, of her parents were not people who treated her the way that a parent should treat their child. Reid was someone who seemed to have come from a horrid start, and made something of herself. The very definition of a success story. It also explained why she reacted the way that she did in some of the situations that Edward had seen since her time at the GCPD. She had forced herself to engage with men who obviously made her uncomfortable. She would often not say anything to officers and detectives who stood too close to her, or said something that she had made clear in the past she didn't like. If they touched her, Reid did her best to stop herself from wincing. It was almost like she was preparing herself. Protecting herself.

His research only further proved to him just how important he was to Reid. Reid cared about him, so at dinner tonight Edward was going to make sure that she understood that she was important to him, too. She could trust him to be on her side. To support her. Ed was going to demonstrate that he was worthy of her. Edward cared about few things, and Reid was one of them. Edward had spent six months working with her, and he knew her. He knew the things that she did and did not like. He knew that coffee gave her migraines. He knew she was an avid believer in social justice. He knew who she was.

As he made his way to her office at the back end of the hall, Ed planned out how he would show her that. Her favorite food was pasta, she ate it all the time; so he'd make garlic and cheese penne noodles, because she hated tomatoes. She didn't drink much, but when she did she preferred wine. Considering what he had learned today, they would stay away from drinking. If her father was anything like her uncle, he likely drank excessively. Alcohol was off the table. That was fine, though, because she was also quite fond of mint tea. Unsweetened, because she didn't like sweet things all that much. As such, her favorite dessert was cheesecake. Edward knew Reid.

Her office door was open when he approached, and Reid was standing with her back facing the door. He hair was pulled into a ponytail, to keep it out of her face while she was leaning over her desk looking at something. Reid hated when her hair fell into her face, it distracted her and she had spent a lot of time contemplating getting it cut off. Another thing Edward knew about her. She was wearing the shirt she had been wearing when they had first met, a silk long sleeved deep purple blouse, with small lilacs on it. Her favorite shirt, in her favorite color, with her favorite flower. Edward knew Reid.

"Hello!"

Much like her uncle, Reid was startled by the sudden appearance of him. Unlike her uncle though, Reid let out a small yelp at the unexpected intrusion of her office, turning around as fast as she could to see him. "Good _god,_ you scared me." She let out a shuddered breath and shook her head slightly before continuing, "Hi! Hello, Ed, what brings you back to my hovel? Something interesting happen? Did Guerra yell at you again? Is there going to be another incident?"

Ed noticed that she was leaning on her desk in what was supposed to be a casual manner, her normally relaxed shoulders were tense and pulled forward, her hands were fiddling with the long beaded necklace she wore, and she was speaking with a forced calm. Reid was nervous, to anyone else it may not have been noticeable, but Ed was not just anyone else.

"It depends on what you mean by interesting, and no. I've gotten much better at making sure that he won't stumble upon me in the morgue anymore. His schedule is as predictable as his competence," he paused for a moment as Reid laughed at his knock on _Dr. _Guerra. Ed didn't think it was all that funny, but it obviously served as an easy outlet for her nerves. "Well, I figured, if you were able to, we could leave now. I know it's a little early, but this is the first time _I'll_ be making dinner, so I want to make sure it's perfect."

Reid seemed to freeze at the mention of dinner, and quickly said that it wasn't a big deal. They could call it off and have dinner another night. Their plans were last minute and didn't have to be rushed on her account. It was fine if he wanted to have dinner another night. Everything she said was haphazard, and Ed could see her nervousness slowly increasing with each passing word. Maybe he _had_ done something that offended or upset her in someway.

_Or maybe she just doesn't want to be around me anymore._

No, that was ridiculous. Reid had no reason to abruptly decide that she didn't want anything to do with him. Intrusive thoughts pushed away Ed stopped her from rambling, "I know it's not a big deal, and it's no rush. It's about time _I_ made _you_ dinner."

That seemed to dispel her jumpiness some, and her hands fell to her sides, "If you're sure, I mean I don't wanna put you out or anything."

"It's no trouble at all, I promise."

She seemed to somewhat reluctantly acquiesce, "Okay, just give me like ten minutes to just get my stuff sorted. I'll meet you at the front, alright?"

"Great! I'll see you in ten minutes."

As quickly as he went into her office, Ed left. He went into his lab to grab his things, hanging his lab coat by the door as usual. Now Ed was excited. Spending a day getting to know things about her that he hadn't already learned by observing her, was enlightening. Reid Bullock was a person who was quite reserved, and wasn't open to trusting people easily. The things Edward had read made it obvious that her upbringing was strained, and with that being the case it was simple conclusion to come to, but he had earned a difficult won place in Reid's trust.

Waiting for her to make her way to the front of the bullpen was going about as well as Ed expected. It was baffling to him how people like the ones that worked at the police department, managed to get as far as they did. They were not only bad at their jobs, but excessively disrespectful. An unremarkable combination, to say the least. It made Edward minimize any of the time that he had spent in their presence, especially since Reid joined the force.

It was common knowledge that he and Reid were close, and it often inspired some of the more brazen officers to engage with him when they would normally ignore him. One of the more frustrating ones would have to be Matthew Watkins. Any time Watkins was able to get Ed alone it seemed, he would approach and start talking about Reid. At first it had fairly mundane conversation: her name, where she was from. In a manner that Ed assumed was an attempt to be gradual, the questions and conversation topics became invasive. The majority of the time Ed would do his best to ignore the crass nature of the people that were his de facto co-workers, but one Matt Watkins was one that he would try to avoid at all costs. While he knew that being different than the norm made someone a quick target for those who felt that they were the top of the social food chain, when those targets began to encompass someone that he cared about, he tended to be a bit on the defensive side.

Today was no exception, it would seem, as the aforementioned officer took his opportunity to try to engage with Ed. If you could call it engaging. It was more like incoherent gibberish to Ed. He managed a stiff smile as he was approached, "Officer Watkins. How are you?"

"Oh, you know, where are you headed? Shouldn't you be in the back? Playing with a microscope or something?" The laugh in his voice and the smile on Watkins face made it clear that he thought he joke was topnotch; realistically it was sub-par.

"I am on my way out. Just waiting for someone."

There was a small amount of hope that would take the verbal hint, read Ed's body language, and went about his business. Given the officer's unending obsession with Reid, it was unlikely. And the fact that one of the many 'jokes' the people at the GCPD liked to make was that Ed didn't have any friends. If Ed didn't have any friends, then the only person that he would be waiting for would be Reid. And Watkins might be an imbecile, but Edward was quite sure even he would be able to figure that out.

The jovial smile of the man morphed into a smirk, and Ed was met with a face that he was all too familiar with, "And who might that be? Got big plans, do ya?"

Watkins tone was rife with condescension, and he made no effort or attempt to cover it. Days like this were days that Ed had to remind himself that he was smarter than these people, and should act accordingly. They couldn't help it. They were brutes conditioned to behave the way that they did. They were victims of the monkey see, monkey do, mentality; therefore lacked the conviction to go against their normal. Creatures of habit.

"What two things can you never have before breakfast?"

From smirk to confusion, Watkins expression instantly changed, "What?"

"Lunch and dinner," Ed snidely let out almost immediately after Watkins question, in an attempt to cut the interaction short. "You can't have lunch or dinner before breakfast. I have dinner plans."

"What, did you decide to do something about that new hot piece?"

"I'm sorry?"

Now it was Ed's turn to be confused. He was sure that he had to of misunderstood what Watkins had said, at least he was hoping that's what happened. Edward was not prepared to deal with Watkins being intentionally disrespectful to Reid. Ignorance was not something that Ed tolerated in himself, and he was fully aware of the fact that people had a distinct way of talking about Reid. Just the same as all of the other women that worked there. On occasion that would lead to a unique way of tormenting Ed, but for the most part it was usually kept away from Ed. Ed was not one of 'pack'.

"You know what I mean. _Satin. _Must be a helluva thing for a name like that, ya know? Sometimes she acts like she knows too much, though," Watkins let out a laugh, showing that he thought what he said was comical, or amusing in some way. "But what the hell am I telling you that for, right? I mean, I get wanting to look at an ass like her's, but damn does she talk too much?"

Edward's back was ridged as the man in front of him spoke the way he did about someone that was important to him. Any second now, Reid would be making her way over towards the reception area, and Watkins would, no doubt, do or say something that made her uneasy. Something that would make that flimsy grimace show on her face, and that awkward soft titter to make its way from her lips.

And, like the devil himself (if one is so dense to believe in something like that), Reid appeared in his line of sight. It was all that Ed could do not step around the officer and steer Reid out of the building as quickly as possible, but one of the many things that bothered her was acts such as that. She was her own person, and always preferred to act in her own stead. Reid was not a person to turn down assistance, and would usually be open to it. Given the things that Ed learned about her today, though, acts that could be interpreted as aggressive could potentially make her more defensive. Especially around a person like Matthew Watkins.

Reid's smile was bright until she caught sight of the officer. As such, her gait slowed, and Ed watched as she folded into herself. _Preparing and protecting_. No doubt with this reckless intrusion the nerves that had been racking her all day were just increased. Edward had been unlucky enough to see some of the marginal interactions Watkins and Reid had had, and even if Reid hadn't told him, Ed would have known that Reid didn't like him.

Almost at the two men, Reid spoke, "Hey, Ed, ready?"

Her voice was meek, and she was taking up as little space as possible. She was hiding.

Regrettably, Watkins was not dissuaded by her demeanor, "Well, how are you doing this fine day, Miss Satin? As good as you look, I'd bet."

Ed observed as Reid became more and more out of sorts. He saw the small, poorly hidden, flinch from her when Watkins used her first name. The way that she turned her face down and away, to reduce the risk of making unwanted eye contact. The way she angled and inched herself closer to Ed, once again feeling pride in her. What he was not going to do, was sit idly by while this cretin decided to take advantage of her assumed docile nature, and manhandle her. When Watkins wrapped his hand around Reid's wrist and pulled her towards him, Ed spoke up.

"Reid." The sudden burst from Edward caused Reid to jump, startled by him for the second time in no more than fifteen minutes, and Watkins to finally pull his attention from leering at Reid. "She goes by Reid. Has since she was thirteen."

A sudden tension filled the space between the three, and it all settled around the woman who was still tentative in the officer's hand. With what little confidence it seemed Reid have left, she spoke after a moment, "Um, I should go. It was nice to see you, Officer Watkins."

Slowly everything wound down, and in moments Edward and Reid were walking out of the building together. Ed was quick to allow himself to relax after the situation, but Reid was less so, not that he blamed her. She had a destructive childhood, and, as he had already deduced, she could easily be pushed back into that battered state. His problem, was that he had seen Reid react a few different ways, and he knew that she could handle her own. Every once in a while, Ed had even observed it. But on occasions such as this one, which were more common than the former, she would clam up.

Arriving at his car, Ed needed to ask, "Why do you let people treat you that way? It's very clear to me that you dislike it, not even including the times that you've told me. I know that you can, and have, handled it before, so why do you usually let it go on?"

The query disrupted her causing her to drop to a halt. She looked like she was racking it over. It wasn't difficult, but she was having a hard time processing it.

"I'm sorry," Ed jumped back in, "I shouldn't have asked. Curiosity. Just you-"

Reid cut him off as he was being to get flustered, "My uncle. Uh, he taught me what I call _self preservation._"

Ed was beyond confused, and it must have shown on his face because she continued. She explained to him that Bullock told her to read her situation. It wasn't about anything being okay, but it was about being able to do something about it. "And you can't do anything about it if you're dead. That's what he said. Be alive and do something about it. _Fix it_."

It wasn't the answer that he had expected, but it made sense. Bullock had done everything that he could for Reid, including letting her be okay with having a reaction that was common in victims of abuse. Reid was quick to fall into habits that would make her appear as non-threatening as possible, to sate the desire for superiority that she often encountered. She didn't want to, and she hated it, and she wanted to be better, to _do_ better. But she was scared. A small piece of her that was spoken to few, and seen by even less. She let _him _see it. She let _him_ be close to her in a way that he doubted many people were privileged enough to get.

Edward Nygma was important to Reid Bullock. And Reid Bullock was certainly important to him.

**And that's a wrap for this one. Thank you for those of you that followed/favorited my story! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. That being said, I have no claim to Gotham the show, nor any characters created in the Batman universe.**


	5. Chapter 5

Harvey was sick and damn tired of his niece working at the GCPD. Because she wasn't good at her job? No, she was great at her job. Reid would walk into an interrogation room and have a suspect broken down in ten minutes, tops. Because he didn't like his niece? Reid was a delight to be around, and was usually the only thing keeping Harvey sane working a job full of wackos and assholes.

No, Harvey didn't want Reid _gone_, Harvey wanted to be able to do something about the fact that some of the people he had to work with had a very specific way of treating her; and he was _not_ happy about it. She could handle herself, he'd seen her do it, and was always damn proud, but that didn't mean he was okay with it. Other women that worked there? Yeah, he could step up and tell those guys off; and, if it came down to it throw a punch or two. But he couldn't do that with Reid, because he had taught her to do for herself, to know who her allies were, and how to take care of herself.

Problem with that was, Reid was stubborn as they came. She had taken everything he given to her, and used it as a security blanket. Wrapping herself up in a bubble of so called self-reliance, depending on no person to defend her. And Reid made damn sure that anyone who would be there to defend her knew exactly how far they were allowed to go without...stepping on her toes. But right now? Right now Harvey was about to break a uniformed officer's nose if he said one more goddammed thing about Reid.

Lucky or unlucky, Harvey's attention was pulled to his old and crappy flip phone in the middle of his desk. Doing everything he could to focus all of his brain power on the cell phone, he snatched it off of his desk and brusquely answered it, "Whoever you are, and whatever you want, it better be good. I'm about ready to shoot someone, and it might just be you."

"You're not going to shoot me, Harv. Look, are you still at the precinct? Would you be able to come pick me up, maybe?"

After spending an hour getting more and more mad listening to Officer Ass-hat talk about Reid, having her call him asking to be picked up in a tense whisper wasn't doing Harvey any good.

"What the hell? Where are you, and who's ass am I kicking?" He didn't mean to yell and draw everyone's attention to him, but that was what happened. That was just the cherry on top of his shitty day, "You all should do you jobs, instead of staring at me!"

"Jeez, Harvey. Could you not scream my ear off? Can you come get me or not?"

Forcing his voice to lower, to avoid giving Reid a migraine, he told her that he would pick her up, "Where are you, and what do you need from me?"

Quickly gathering his things and making his way to his car, Harvey heard a knock and Reid asking him to hold on. It wasn't that he was trying to listen to her private conversation (he was), it was that he wanted to make sure everything was okay with his niece. And you didn't just _turn off_ being a detective. The second voice was on the quiet side, definitely male, and seemed genuinely concerned. Only hearing snip-its of the conversation between the man and his niece didn't ease his mind, because Reid seemed equally worried.

"Really, I'm good. It's not that big of a deal. My hand slipped, is all. I'll be right out, Ed."

"Alright, just let me know if you need anything."

There were a few moments of silence on the line and then the sound of running water while Harvey got his car started and heading towards Ed Nygma's apartment. After Nygma and his niece had started spending time together, Harvey made sure to know where the forensic scientist lived. It wasn't that he thought Ed was a bad guy, a little weird but not a bad guy; and Reid was a good judge of character. It was more that he wanted to be sure that he would be able to get to her if he ever needed to. Helicopter Uncle to the fullest. "What d'ya need me to do, Reid?"

"I'm at Ed's. Just call me in a few minutes when you're almost here, and go along with me, okay?"

"Yeah, okay, fine. You're alright though?"

There was just a touch of hesitation before Reid said that she was okay, telling him that she wasn't okay, but she wasn't in trouble. Something was bothering her, and something was upsetting her; but whatever it was, it probably wasn't anything Nygma did. Hell, that man would follow her around like a damn puppy some times, and the two were good for each other. If he were honest with himself, which he wasn't, he would say that the two were like two damn teenagers that just wouldn't admit that they _liked each other_.

Harvey knew that Reid had a thing for Nygma, at least. It was so pitifully obvious that it drove him up a wall some days. She was always open with him, and Reid wasn't open with anyone. She quickly became cozy in his presence, and Reid wasn't cozy with anyone. She laughed at his _stupid _riddles, and any time she was feeling uneasy Reid would angle herself as close to him as possible. Reid quickly and easily put her trust into Edward Nygma, and the only explanation for it was that Reid had a crush on the man with the glasses.

As much as Harvey would rather her stick to dating women, he knew that she wasn't just going to stop dating men altogether – though sometimes it seemed like she might. Reid could go a year _easy_ and not go on a single date with a man. Why? Because men were disgusting, and treated people shitty, and Reid didn't tolerate being treated shitty. Because Harvey had raised her not to settle for _some guy_ that wanted someone to take care of her. Again, one of the many life lessons that Harvey had passed to Reid, that she took to heart.

When he was a few minutes away, Harvey pulled his phone back out and called Reid back, letting her know that he was going to be pulling up outside of the building in a few. She managed to sound almost believably surprised and concerned, considering that she _told him to call_.

"Hey, Harvey, what's up? Everything okay?"

"Well, I just pulled up in front of an apartment that has a hideous green neon sign in front of it. My niece is in said apartment, and asked me to come pick her up. She sounded worried about something, but didn't tell me what, so here I am."

"Oh, um, okay. Yeah, I'll...I'll be right down."

Before Harvey could get out another word Reid ended the call. Drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, all he could do was wait for her to make her way down.

**I have no claim to Gotham the show, nor any characters created in the Batman universe.**

**Sorry for the delay, I found out that a friend of mine is a TERF, that's fun; and also fell down the Endgame hole. This chapter is specifically to give insight into the relationship between Reid and Harvey, as well as a minor plot driver. Thank you to my followers! Drop a comment!**


	6. Chapter 6

"Really, I'm good. It's not that big of a deal. My hand slipped, is all. I'll be right out, Ed."

He knew full well that Reid wasn't lying to him, but that she _was_ leaving something out. Ed didn't want to push her and risk upsetting her further than she already was, so he decided it was best to let it lie, "Alright, just let me know if you need anything."

_Let you know if she needs anything. What she needs is to be left alone._ God, Ed was loosing his mind. The entire night had started fine, and had gone completely downhill shortly after they arrived at his apartment. He had told her to make her self comfortable, and from that point on he found himself thinking things that he shouldn't have been thinking. While Ed didn't voice these things, and he _certainly_ didn't act on them, he was sure that Reid was able to tell that he was behaving differently as a result. She could see that he wasn't thinking about her in an appropriate manner, and now she was doing stupid things like slipping with a knife and cutting her hand open.

As he moved to walk away from the door he heard the faucet turn on. She would be finished soon, and would come back out. After that, Ed would be able to talk to her and clear things up. Let her know that he would fix making her feel uncomfortable with him. That Ed was not like the other men at the GCPD. At least that's what he thought he would do, before he heard her talking. Over the running water and through the door, Ed wasn't able to make out too much of what she was saying, but he could make out enough. Reid was on the phone with someone, asking them to call her shortly. She was calling for someone to come get her.

_Of course she is. You just spent the entire night wondering how soft her thigh is, and trying to decide if her neck tastes as sweet as she smells. Like honeysuckle. So yeah, Reid is hiding in your bathroom in an attempt to be rescued from your pathetic presence._

Before she left the bathroom and Ed was caught lurking outside, he quickly made his way back to the living area. The little voice in his head was doing nothing for his ability to focus, as it only reminded him of why exactly Reid was leaving. She was his friend. Friends didn't think that way about each other. It was disrespectful, and Ed was _not_ going to be another person like that. So he would just keep himself distracted, and not let himself continue to think that way about her. Ed would demonstrate that not only did he know her and she was important to him, but that she could trust him.

Ed quickly moved around table and cleaned up; dishes in the sink, trash in the trash can. Whoever was on the way, most likely Detective Bullock, would be there soon. He was not going to have a lot of time to talk to her, and it likely wouldn't be a simple conversation. Reid easily shut down when she was uncomfortable, and this was going to be one of those situations. So doing his best to stop himself from fixating on the idea of going into the bathroom, pushing her against the cold tile wall, and tasting her neck with his hands on her hips, holding them tight enough to bruise.

_Don't think that's helping the situation._

Taking a deep breath he stood by his couch, waiting for Reid to come out. It may as well have been hours that passed as Ed stood playing over all the possible outcomes in his head. Worst case scenario: she would look at him entirely disgusted, and would not want to be around him again, telling him in a less than nice way as she slammed the door on her way out. Best case scenario: she would accept his apology and go back to being his friend. They would both forget that this ever happened, and Ed would spend the next year or so trying to make it up to her.

Without having much time to think the matter over any more than he already had, he stood tense. Ed's placement by the door wasn't entirely unintentional, he was hoping that she would give her a chance to hear him out. Just as he began to flex his hands in an attempt to quell his ever building nerves, the door to the bathroom opened and closed again quickly, announcing Reid's arrival into the main space of Ed's apartment.

_God, she looks amazing, doesn't she?_

Clenching his hands again to try and distract himself from the voice in head that seemed set on making him see things about Reid that he didn't want to, Ed closed his eyes. If he gave it a second, he was sure that he could stop. She was the only person that mattered to him, so he wasn't going to let himself get in the way of their friendship.

_Of course she's the only person that matters to you, Reid's the only person who gives you the time of day. Not only that, but we've already covered that the skirt she's wearing does wonders for her legs. Do you think the best part of her is her legs or her neck? I think it's a toss up. She looks like that, carries a conversation, _and_ wants to actually spend time in your sad presence? You should lock the door now, and never let her leave. If you're quick enough, you still can._

"Stop," Ed let out, not thinking the action through. His apparent random outburst drew a look of confusing from Reid. As he redirected his attention to the woman in front of him that annoying little voice in his head was laughing at him. Ed couldn't avoid being mocked, even in his own head. "Not you, sorry. I'm just a little-" 

"In your head?"

Her tone was light, and she had a small smile on her face. Reid was good at reminding him that being hypercritical could be a bad thing sometimes. Mostly when it was directed at himself. Her openness to every side of him reminded him why he had a relationship with her. One that Ed wasn't going to let a few stray intrusive thoughts get in the way of. Opting to ignore the thoughts, Ed gave her, his _friend_, a genuine smiled. Reid knew him well enough to know when he was getting himself worked up. When he was getting to uneasy for his own good. And she was good at bringing him back to her.

_For thoughts to be intrusive they have to be unwelcome. Unpleasant. They also can lead to obsession, though no objections there. Oh, they also have to be something you would never actually _act on_, some objections there._

Using the opportunity that he had to make things right with Reid before Detective Bullock arrived to take her away from him, Ed pushed forward, "I have a riddle for you!"

He was greeted by her soft laughter, "You usually do. Lay it on me."

_That's a nice vague request. Open to interpretation?_

Doing his best to disregard the continued interruption, Ed gave Reid his riddle, "I am more valuable than gold but cost nothing, weigh nothing but can easily be broken, is owned by no one but shared by two. What am I?"

The riddle was easy, but the point wasn't to see if Reid could figure it out, she usually could; the point was to show her how much their relationship meant to Ed. Even given the level of the riddle she seemed to be having a hard time figuring it out. Her eyes were widened slightly, the previously affable expression had turned blank, and her posture stiffened. She turned her face away from him and pulled her hands together in front of her waist, her obvious tell that Reid was uncomfortable. He didn't understand why the sudden change in her demeanor, the riddle he gave her wasn't inappropriate in any way, his posture wasn't threatening. There was something that she wasn't telling him.

_Wonder what that could be. I can think of a way or two to figure it out. Maybe if-_

Saving himself from the incessant jeering Ed spoke up, "This one's an easy one. I'm sure you know the answer."

Despite his reassurance Reid still seemed put off, was still avoiding eye contact, was still guarding herself with her hands at her waist. Ed didn't want her to be uncomfortable, he wanted her to be calm and content; at ease. Not counting the seconds until she was able to get away from him. As she finally spoke again some of his hopefulness came back.

"How about you tell me the answer, and I'll tell you if I have the right answer in my head."

_Ya know, that's cheating, but she _did_ ask nicely. What was her suggestion again? To 'lay it on' her? You should do that._

"Friendship," Ed said a little too forcefully, "The answer is friendship."

_I think there would have been a better answer to that. See, now Reid doesn't just look uncomfortable, she looks about ready to dart out the door. Why do you always have to do this? Note the plastic smile adorning her face, the slumped shoulders. Oh Eddie, always disappointing people. _

"Not the answer that popped into my mind, but it's your riddle."

"What was the answer you thought of?" Ed was determined to keep the conversation going, when the two of them were talking the voice in his head was less likely to speak up. He didn't like the things it was thinking and saying, but the part of him that was the voice obviously cared about Reid, too. It wanted to listen to her and have her around as much as he did.

"Oh, it wasn't a good answer," she said looking at him directly for the first time since she had fallen into her nerves. Ed may not have liked it, but the voice in his head had done a good job of describing her current state. Reid may have been making eye contact but it wasn't comfortable contact, she looked hollow. That only managed to make him feel even worse than he did at any other point through the night.

"I'm sure it wasn't that-," before he could get the whole thought out, Reid's phone started ringing.

_And there she goes. Good job, Eddie. Two thumbs up._

Reid apologized as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and answered it, acting as if she didn't know why her uncle was on the other end, "Hey, Harvey, what's up. Everything okay?"

No, everything was _not_ okay. Reid was going to leave. She was going to leave and Ed wasn't going to have a chance to clean up the mess that he had made of the entire evening. The mess he had made of their entire friendship. For the first time that night Ed felt entirely alone, even the incessant voice in his head felt like it had left him alone to deal with his predicament on his own. At a loss of any other options, he moved closer to Reid, but before Ed could make it more than two steps she stepped to the side, turning away from him. In that moment he knew that Reid might be just a few feet in front of him, but she wasn't there. She didn't want to hear what it was that he had to say, she didn't want to fix what ever had broken in the few hours in his home. Reid didn't want him.

"Oh, um, okay. Yeah, I'll...I'll be right down."

Slowly she put her phone back into her pocket and turned to face him. Ed knew that nothing was wrong and that nothing bad had happened, that he was the reason she was apprehensive, but he needed to ask. To at least try and show her that she was essential. "Is everything okay?"

"Um, yeah. Everything's fine. Harvey is here. To pick me up."

"I could have taken you home," he stumbled out, in a small attempt to have her with him longer. The longer she was there, the more chance he had to show her how much she meant to him.

A small smile found it's way onto her face as she nodded slowly at him, "I know, Ed, I appreciate it. It's just..."

Not being able to stop himself, Ed moved closer to her again. This time she made no move away from him, she didn't look away from him, she even smiled a little more. "If I did anything to-"

"You didn't do anything, Ed. Today has just been...not the best, is all. You're great."

Without letting the conversation go any further, Reid turned to the door. A weight was beginning to be lifted off of his shoulders as Reid walked away from him. She didn't lie, she _d__etested_lying, and she told him that he was not at fault, so he couldn't be. For the first time since returning home, Ed felt at ease, and he let himself embrace the feeling. Smiling again, Ed followed Reid to the door, addressing her before she made her way through the threshold, "You know you can talk to me about it, if you ever want to. You can trust me."

Greeting him with the same laugh he had grown so accustomed to, she turned to face him once again, "You, Edward Nygma, are one of the few people in this world that I actually _do _trust. But promise me something?"

"Anything," he threw out eagerly. Anything to keep the acceptance he had once thought had been lost.

"Just don't break that trust?"

The request seemed ridiculous to Ed. Why would that even be something that she worried about? Friends trusted each other, and they didn't do anything to break that trust.

_You don't know _everything_ about her life. You just want to think you do._

"Of course I won't," it was a simple answer, and it was the only one that Ed could bring himself to give in that moment. He hoped that it was clear enough for Reid to understand everything he wanted it to say, and from the expression on her face it was. With one last passing smile between the two, Reid made her way out of his apartment.

As the door closed behind her, Ed let himself go over the passing thought he had. It wasn't untrue, and as much as Ed didn't want to admit it, the annoying little voice in his head was right: he didn't know everything about her life. Next on his list with Reid would be to find out the things that he didn't already find on his own, and what she hadn't told him. Getting into her hospital records would be simple enough, that would give him substantially more information. The rest would be whatever he could gleam from Reid as their relationship grew. At the present moment in time Ed didn't know everything about her life. But he would.

****I have no claim to Gotham the show, nor any characters created in the Batman universe.****

****Sorry for the delay ********again. I was stuck at a part of this, and was having a hard time pushing through. Finally was able to get back in the zone! ********Thank you to my followers! Drop a comment!****


	7. Chapter 7

The case had fallen apart in a matter of minutes. A case that Reid had spent months working along side her uncle over. After everything this _criminal_ had done, he wasn't even going to spend a single day in jail. Why? Because Gotham was where regard for the law and for the sanctity of life came to die. It was no surprise to Reid, since she was living in a city where a man who thinks he can get away with anything he does, he can. And in the words of the world's worst DA, they had no evidence.

"Harvey, it's ridiculous! How the hell can he say that we 'have no evidence'? There's motive and opportunity! There's video of of him in places the different victims frequented. Hell, there's DNA evidence linking him to two of the crime scenes!" Reid was up to her eyeballs in frustration, as she stood defiantly at her desk yelling at her uncle. The fault wasn't on him, Harvey had done everything that he could to see this man arrested, the fault was on the Assistant District Attorney. A man who deserved no name, and a man who deserved to be replaced.

Her uncle, however, was sitting in front of her desk, seemingly as exhausted about the whole situation as Reid was, the only difference being that while Harvey saw it as a problem: it wasn't the first time and it wouldn't be the last. At least that's what he kept telling her. That it was what it was. That she knew this coming into her job. That the bad guys in Gotham didn't get what was coming to them, they passed it off to someone else.

"It's all circumstantial," he let out in an exasperated breath.

His annoyance at the matter did little to calm Reid down, all it actually did was make her more irritate. Harvey was supposed to be on _her_ side. He was supposed to be just as mad about this as _she was_. He wasn't supposed to just roll over and accept defeat.

"DNA evidence, Harvey. That's not just circumstantial! That puts him in the locations of _two _of the victims! Two of the women that he strung up and bled out! Why are you so complacent about this? Why aren't you just as mad about this as I am?" Reid was at her wits end, and she wasn't making any effort to hide it. Her mouth was stuck in a permanent frown, there were dark circles under her eyes, her usually maintained hair was loose and relaxing into their waves. Nothing, short of this murderer getting his due, was going to make her feel better.

"I don't know what you want me to tell ya, kid," Harvey started to list off the ways that their 'evidence' wasn't going to be enough to secure a conviction. "Jones's DNA was found at two drop sites. But one of them he works at, and the other one he frequents. The locations of the other sites have video because their popular places. The motive is what? That he hates women? While I'm sure that's reason enough for some, it ain't enough for the court system. His alibi is weak, but we don't have a witness to contradict it, _or_ a murder weapon."

She knew, logically, that her uncle was right, it was unlikely to see this case succeed at trial, and that a not guilty verdict would likely be returned. But that didn't make her feel any better. It actually made her feel even worse. Reid wasn't stupid, and knew that the 'good guys' couldn't always win, but did the bad ones get to have an advantage like this? All the people that got hurt and victimized, and no one to actually hold those responsible accountable? It was enough to make her sick. "Okay, so what are we supposed to do? Just let him keep going around and killing women?"

"No, that's not what we're gonna do, Reid," Harvey said as he stood up to look her in the eye, trying to get through to her, "I'm gonna keep lookin'. But you need to accept the fact that this might not go anywhere."

"Well it should."

Her continued despondent and irked tone finally seemed to have pushed Harvey to the end of his rope, and he snapped, "Alright then, what should happen? Why don't you tell me what the outcome should be, since reality clearly ain't good enough for you!"

"Ideally?" The question came out far more condescending then she had originally intended, but if Harvey wanted to know, she'd tell him, "Well, _ideally_, he'd be strung up and bled out as slowly as was humanly possible. Death by a thousand paper cuts. _Ideally_ he'd get exactly what was coming to him, but, evidently, no one else in Gotham shares that sentiment!"

The two stood in her office staring at each other, one on the angry side, the other on the concerned side. Harvey had never heard his niece speak that way before, and it wasn't something he knew what to do with right away. He knew that she wasn't talking about actually doing those things, that this was her at her own wit's end, but it wasn't something he would have ever pictured coming from her. Reid was a collected woman, she was understanding and reasonable, she wasn't one to seek out vengeance.

Deciding that he wasn't ready to see where this conversation was set to go, Harvey told her that she should just do whatever it was that she wanted to do. "In the meantime, I'm gonna get back to work, and see if I can find anything to actually catch this guy. Instead of sitting here thinking about 'what's coming to him'."

While Harvey had his entire focus Reid, he didn't hear a knock on her office door; nor did he hear it open, adding another person to the tense room. "What's coming to who?"

Jumping and quickly turning around to address the intruder, "Jesus, _Christ_, Nygma! What the hell is _wrong _with you? Why the hell do you keep sneaking up on people? It's annoying and _creepy_ as hell."

Reid watched as Harvey got mad and flipped out at Ed, and how Ed looked dejected just as quickly, she stepped in. Her uncle could be mad and frustrated all he wanted, that didn't mean that he got to take it out on Ed for no reason, "Harvey, why don't you go back to work and leave Ed alone. You can be pissy with me all you want, but you can leave him out of it."

"Yeah. Don't think we're done with this conversation. We're gonna be coming back to this," with that Harvey made his way out of the room, shaking his head as he went.

Reid knew that he wasn't going to be quick to let what she'd said go, but could he really blame her? She had learned that some people deserved some things, and she always felt that people should get their due. She was trying to embrace that, to live that. Reid was working at trying to make sure that good people had good things happen, and those who did bad things should pay for it. It was hard for her to wrap her head around the fact that her uncle and her did all the right things in situations like this one, and the bad guy gets the win.

Ed spoke up soon after Harvey left the room, in an attempt to pull Reid out of her thoughts, "I assume the two of you were talking about the Greg Jennings case? I know that you two were meeting with the ADA today."

"Yes, we were, unfortunately." Allowing her anger to drip away slowly, she felt herself become overwhelmed with exhaustion. Long before this case, Reid had felt herself winding down, but it seemed that she had finally tipped over to the 'done' side of dealing with how Gotham worked. And she had only been in Gotham for seven months. "He's mad at me because I said that Jennings should be strung up himself. Death via a thousand paper cuts."

A quick smile making it's way to Ed's face told Reid that he was prepared for something like that. "Both a punishment and a sweet reward, it will befall both fool and lord. It is a spiritual scoreboard, your every did it does record. It can reward you with riches, or leave you with stitches."

For the first time that day a laugh left her mouth. She wasn't sure if Ed was trying to be obvious, or if the answer just spoke to her soul, but it was defiantly fitting to the situation. "Karma is something that Gotham needs, wouldn't you say, Ed?"

"I wouldn't say that it's needed, Gotham would be able to continue without it, of course. I would say that karmic justice would be a welcome addition to the city though."

A wide smile settled on her face and she took in Ed's response. If one thing was for sure, Reid knew how lucky she was to have someone like Ed in her life. It didn't matter to her if people were assholes to her or the rest of the world, because Ed would always wonder in and spin off a well placed riddle. Always effectively bringing her back from whatever negativity was threatening to take over her in the melancholy that was Gotham. "That's supposed to be our job, working with the police, no? To help dole out justice?"

"True, but sometimes things need to be go beyond that. The justice system isn't always just, is it?" The smile on Ed's face was small and sad, but was quickly taken over by a one completely bright, "But we'll get back to that, I came to ask you if you were aware that there is a new employee re working with us."

Shaking her head to clear the whiplash that her friend gave her, she told him no, "Now, when you say 'working with us', do you mean with _us_, working in the forensic/medical sections of the department, or someone new to the GCPD in general?"

Holding on to the puppy dog demeanor that she loved so much, Ed's face got all the more bright and he moved all the way into her office. "The latter. I don't know her name yet, but she's going to be working in the archive room. I caught her in Captain Essen's office."

This caught her attention for two reasons; one, she had been waiting for another woman to work at the GCPD that she could actually be friends with, and two, Ed said he caught her in the Captain's office. Reid was not sure which one she should address, or if she should just pick one, and let that dictate the direction of her conversation.

Making the decision for her, Ed spoke up again, never one to let a silence go on too long when he was excited, "I know that you've been looking forward to not being one of the only women working here. Since she's not an officer or a detective-"

"Not all detective's a bad. Montoya is nice. We like her."

"Yes, but officers and detectives are far more likely to be hopeless when it comes to being friends with someone they find to be less than."

"Hey, I'm not less than anyone!" Her faux offense was enough to get Ed to redirect what his speech.

"Of course you're not. The people that are less than someone would have to be the one's that think that, for some reason, their brute mentality is superior. Those people lack intelligence are the bottom of the barrel."

Laughing again at the sudden change in Ed's demeanor, "Is that right? What does that make me then?"

He looked offended that she even posed the question, as if Reid should have already know the answer. "Well obviously your intelligence is far superior to most others. You're highly capable, and you're incredibly nice and open, you have overcome adversity, and you're clearly one of the smartest people in Gotham. If anyone were to consider you the bottom of anything, they'd be deranged."

"High praise. You're pretty nice, too, ya know?"

"Of course I am. I'm not deranged enough to think I wasn't."

****And we're at it again. Reid has lost it with the ineffectiveness of the Gotham legal system, and we're going to meet a new character. I wonder who it is, it's not like I was subtle. :)) ********I have no claim to Gotham the show, nor any characters created in the Batman universe.****


End file.
